coachjsoriano

[bobbyb]

My dd pitched against her a couple years in HS ball...so did another pitcher I worked with.
She was definitely awesome.

Crankermo did a post one time about his journey that i kept. I don't know the date but here is the post.
---
"Mann & Knights here is where I would personally start if I had to start over:

Through my personal experiences in this journey I've learned that the body truly knows how to do what it needs to do no matter the circumstances. The biggest dilemna we face is getting out of the way and letting it do it's thing, of this I'm extremely confident. Since day one I've told Brooke that your body will tell you everything you need to know, good/bad, but we have to understand what it's telling us first and that comes from the repition of doing things right in the first place.

I'm just a regular dad who happens to be obsesssed with hitting, like the rest of you knotheads. I had a chance to play college baseball but I blew that due to a bad attitude, the reason I bring that up is I still swing the bat a lot and love to hit, always have. Anyway here's my recollection of Brooke and I's journey so far;


1. Work from the ground up and don't get in a rush. Master each component before moving onto the next. Video EVERYTHING and EVERY step along the way. NEVER, EVER ask your DD to do something without you doing it first and understanding it completely. If you can't feel it you can't teach it!

2. FFS told me something when we first started and it's so true, forget about the damn ball, learn and trust the mechanics, focus on the process not the result, very important!

3. Now onto the actual process of learning the swing, The stance has to be athletic and powerful. IMO the Howard Carrier teaching is the best out there. Hopefully Straightleg can post the philosophy because I have lost my notes on it.

4. Lower half, Brooke and started out learning the "MOVE" and eventually moved onto TM's SnF and the difference was immediate and drastic. The whip and power are on a different level. The sound of the bat will tell you all you need to know. The Babe Ruth drill really helped Brooke out.

5. Once we got the lower half we focused on the upper half but IMO alot of it is a no teach because if the stance and lower half are correct it will take care of the upper half. I do agree with MTS on the lower back being key. Do your own research on this because I feel everyone is different and maybe it came easy for Brooke and I don't want someone to skip over this part and it hurt them. Brooke and I didn't do much at all on this honestly. The scap loading and such I didn't necessarily agree with but that's just me.

6. Hands, I know there is some debate about this right now but I'm a huge believer in it, TURN THE BARREL. The barrel path is in every elite swing I've ever seen posted. Not going to get into all the technical and medical jargon, all I told Brooke is you want to get the barrel behind the ball without dumping or chomping, Pretty simplistic I know but it worked for her. Some great technical info on this site about it, read it and understand it.

I know this seems vague but IMO it's very important to learn some lessons along the way, good/bad. If you don't know what feels wrong how will you ever know what feels right? Learn at your DD's pace and ability and always keep an open mind. Brooke and I have taken several missteps but that makes the progress that much better, you can't go forward without ever going backwards. The best thing you can do is post videos here or other sites and try some of the feedback for yourselves, that's what we did. don't let emotion come into play because your kids swing got picked apart, that's how we all learn."
--

 

[bobbyb]

My 8 y/o daughter is a handful of girls (at least that I'm aware of) that are taking remote lessons from Coach Soriano right now. We started April 1. It's been challenging for my daughter, especially since we're doing it in the middle of the season, but I can definitely see positive changes in her barrel progression.

I'd much rather go to a Soriano-type in person for training, as my daughter would benefit from NOT listening to me, but that doesn't seem to be an option out here.

Alas, my whole point is, let me know if you have any specific questions. I'm just a dad, so I may just tell you know I don't know the answer, but I can tell you what I do know. Just ask.

I would love to hear the progression he takes her thru.
Whats the first thing he started having her do?

 

[So Cal Seth]

I would love to hear the progression he takes her thru.
Whats the first thing he started having her do?

I may come across as vague to protect his work product, so forgive me. But to give an overall macro sense of it, the analogy is building a house, brick by brick.

So the first exercise was standing, facing the pitcher, no bat, arms extended out like a T, and turning as the torso falls back behind the rear leg in the rear hip socket - lateral tilt.

He videos himself doing every exercise/progression/drill, adds extra, more detailed explanations periodically and mixes in video of his girls doing a progression correctly.

 

[Eric F]

My dd pitched against her a couple years in HS ball...so did another pitcher I worked with.
She was definitely awesome.

Crankermo did a post one time about his journey that i kept. I don't know the date but here is the post.
---
"Mann & Knights here is where I would personally start if I had to start over:

Through my personal experiences in this journey I've learned that the body truly knows how to do what it needs to do no matter the circumstances. The biggest dilemna we face is getting out of the way and letting it do it's thing, of this I'm extremely confident. Since day one I've told Brooke that your body will tell you everything you need to know, good/bad, but we have to understand what it's telling us first and that comes from the repition of doing things right in the first place.

I'm just a regular dad who happens to be obsesssed with hitting, like the rest of you knotheads. I had a chance to play college baseball but I blew that due to a bad attitude, the reason I bring that up is I still swing the bat a lot and love to hit, always have. Anyway here's my recollection of Brooke and I's journey so far;


1. Work from the ground up and don't get in a rush. Master each component before moving onto the next. Video EVERYTHING and EVERY step along the way. NEVER, EVER ask your DD to do something without you doing it first and understanding it completely. If you can't feel it you can't teach it!

2. FFS told me something when we first started and it's so true, forget about the damn ball, learn and trust the mechanics, focus on the process not the result, very important!

3. Now onto the actual process of learning the swing, The stance has to be athletic and powerful. IMO the Howard Carrier teaching is the best out there. Hopefully Straightleg can post the philosophy because I have lost my notes on it.

4. Lower half, Brooke and started out learning the "MOVE" and eventually moved onto TM's SnF and the difference was immediate and drastic. The whip and power are on a different level. The sound of the bat will tell you all you need to know. The Babe Ruth drill really helped Brooke out.

5. Once we got the lower half we focused on the upper half but IMO alot of it is a no teach because if the stance and lower half are correct it will take care of the upper half. I do agree with MTS on the lower back being key. Do your own research on this because I feel everyone is different and maybe it came easy for Brooke and I don't want someone to skip over this part and it hurt them. Brooke and I didn't do much at all on this honestly. The scap loading and such I didn't necessarily agree with but that's just me.

6. Hands, I know there is some debate about this right now but I'm a huge believer in it, TURN THE BARREL. The barrel path is in every elite swing I've ever seen posted. Not going to get into all the technical and medical jargon, all I told Brooke is you want to get the barrel behind the ball without dumping or chomping, Pretty simplistic I know but it worked for her. Some great technical info on this site about it, read it and understand it.

I know this seems vague but IMO it's very important to learn some lessons along the way, good/bad. If you don't know what feels wrong how will you ever know what feels right? Learn at your DD's pace and ability and always keep an open mind. Brooke and I have taken several missteps but that makes the progress that much better, you can't go forward without ever going backwards. The best thing you can do is post videos here or other sites and try some of the feedback for yourselves, that's what we did. don't let emotion come into play because your kids swing got picked apart, that's how we all learn."
--

This is SOOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOD!

 

[bobbyb]

I may come across as vague to protect his work product, so forgive me. But to give an overall macro sense of it, the analogy is building a house, brick by brick.

So the first exercise was standing, facing the pitcher, no bat, arms extended out like a T, and turning as the torso falls back behind the rear leg in the rear hip socket - lateral tilt.

He videos himself doing every exercise/progression/drill, adds extra, more detailed explanations periodically and mixes in video of his girls doing a progression correctly.

Thank you! I understand being vague.
That already answers one question I had.
Hopefully you can periodically update as she progresses up.

 

[bobbyb]

This is SOOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOD!

I totally agree. Parents working with their kid should take note of it...a very useful perspective and it is a journey.

 

[So Cal Seth]

Thank you! I understand being vague.
That already answers one question I had.
Hopefully you can periodically update as she progresses up.

This isn't giving away the cow or anything if you follow him on Twitter or Instagram:

Next progression was snap stops with a long PVC pipe or broom handle. He highly encouraged swinging from the neck slot, and included photos of preset arm angles (90 degree) and pulling back from the preset position with the rear scap (not pushing with front shoulder).

I'm at a frustrated spot with my daughter in the training - it's the end of season with tournament play (rec league) coming up. I can tell when we're not working consistently, she reverts back to old habits. Over the past 10 days or so, it's pulling teeth to get her to work. I was highly frustrated last night at her team's practice with her NOT doing anything we've worked on (even just simply loading up or getting in to her legs). So while I've noticed improvement when she puts the work in, I feel like I'm nagging her to do it, and when we do the work, I'm coming across as hypercritical because I want to improve and ultimately perfect the drill/progression and she gets frustrated when it's challenging and doesn't result in instant success. So, yeah....fun times : /

 

[Eric F]

I totally agree. Parents working with their kid should take note of it...a very useful perspective and it is a journey.

Crankermo's DD, Brooke, was in HS when I joined DFP. Her journey was influential for us, and the information shared by Crakermo was valuable.

 

[Eric F]

I'm at a frustrated spot with my daughter in the training - it's the end of season with tournament play (rec league) coming up. I can tell when we're not working consistently, she reverts back to old habits. Over the past 10 days or so, it's pulling teeth to get her to work. I was highly frustrated last night at her team's practice with her NOT doing anything we've worked on (even just simply loading up or getting in to her legs). So while I've noticed improvement when she puts the work in, I feel like I'm nagging her to do it, and when we do the work, I'm coming across as hypercritical because I want to improve and ultimately perfect the drill/progression and she gets frustrated when it's challenging and doesn't result in instant success. So, yeah....fun times : /

Have you had a conversation with her about what her goals in the game are? Does she truly want to be a top player, or is she happy just playing with her friends and making the all-star team every year? It's totally okay if she doesn't know the answers. At some point, we have to put it on their shoulders to decide what they want out of the game, and how much they are wiling to do to reach those goals. They don't have to be long-term goals (college, etc.).

I have talked with my DD (and her teammates, when I was coaching) many times about taking ownership of her progress. I can't give her anything but guidance. I can't swing the bat for her, or make throws for her, or run for her. Likewise, I can't do the work it takes to get better at those things. She is the one who has to do the work. It's her game. It's up to her to decide how good she wants to be, and up to her to do the work to get there.

One of the big life-lessons of this game is learning that some things take long-term dedicated work to get success. Developing into a good hitter is one of those things. A single drill or cue isn't going to give instant success, and getting them to understand that it's a process can be hard for young players to comprehend. The best hitters in the world have put in countless hours and reps, and have had countless failures, in the journey to become that hitter. The continual work towards improvement is something they all have in common.

 

[So Cal Seth]

Have you had a conversation with her about what her goals in the game are? Does she truly want to be a top player, or is she happy just playing with her friends and making the all-star team every year? It's totally okay if she doesn't know the answers. At some point, we have to put it on their shoulders to decide what they want out of the game, and how much they are wiling to do to reach those goals. They don't have to be long-term goals (college, etc.).

I have talked with my DD (and her teammates, when I was coaching) many times about taking ownership of her progress. I can't give her anything but guidance. I can't swing the bat for her, or make throws for her, or run for her. Likewise, I can't do the work it takes to get better at those things. She is the one who has to do the work. It's her game. It's up to her to decide how good she wants to be, and up to her to do the work to get there.

One of the big life-lessons of this game is learning that some things take long-term dedicated work to get success. Developing into a good hitter is one of those things. A single drill or cue isn't going to give instant success, and getting them to understand that it's a process can be hard for young players to comprehend. The best hitters in the world have put in countless hours and reps, and have had countless failures, in the journey to become that hitter. The continual work towards improvement is something they all have in common.

Thanks, Eric. A conversation of her goals is something we need to have. Again, she's just 8, and I just don't put that in to perspective enough. The competition is fierce out here (as you know). I just found out last night that the 8U gold all-star team has 10 players that were playing in the 10U division. I thought there were three of four, but 10 blew my mind (this is our first year playing softball, so I was probably just naive). The only two players that played in the 8U division to make the gold team were from my daughter's team. Trying to be objective, I think my daughter was the third, or tied for third, best player on the team overall. She definitely was if you only look at the last six games of the season, when coach pitch stopped and they were only hitting off of girls (first half of season had coach come in to pitch rather than a hitter be walked).

My daughter's poor efforts last night combined with the news of how far she really is from the top of the league just put me in a down mood. That's MY issue.. I love, LOVE baseball/softball. I love being on the field and teaching and talking and sharing it all with her. But right now, her aiming to become a top player seems to only be my goal - not hers. At least in her actions. We talked about Soriano and paying for his services and commitment she needs to make because of that. She's attended a couple of catching clinics and raised her hand at the end when instructor asked who wanted to play college softball. I just don't think she "gets it". And to no fault of her own, I mean she's 8. She's loved finally playing with girls this season (after four years of t-ball and machine pitch with boys) and loves to compete out on the field when she's there.

I'm just venting. Thanks to anyone who is still reading. Eric, again, I appreciate your insight. This has to be something SHE decides to put the time and effort in to. I guess I just hate that she won't want to - and that's my own baggage to overcome.

Thanks, all.